Abolition in the District of Columbia
April 16, 1862
Before 1850, slave pens, slave jails, and auction blocks were a common sight in the District of Columbia. Though leaders like John Quincy Adams asked Congress to end slavery back in 1828, Congress did not act for nearly 20 years. In 1849, Lincoln, then a young Illinois congressman, first attempted to end the slave trade in the District of Columbia. But it wasn't until he became president that Lincoln could finally make it happen.